Marching Alarm Clocks and the Poet's Three Footprints

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Welcome back to Chile, here goes round two.

So I've given a slight introduction to the city of Valparaiso, I'd hardly say I did it any justice whatsoever, but I did just finish getting pictures uploaded to the blog so hopefully pictures will speak the rest of the words that I failed to say.

And so now, with horses, we begin.

Horses? Yeah. I've never claimed to be much of a rider. Last time I was on a horse it was in Lesotho and I'm pretty sure I thought I was going to die. Something about riding a horse for the first time while you're on the edge of a cliff in the mountains has that effect. Still, I was quite excited when I found out our first trip with my exchange group in Chile was going to be riding horses through sand dunes and on the beach. I'm glad to say I wasn't disappointed. We started in Ritoque where we were assigned horses and off we went. We went through some forests to begin and then crossed a small river to reach the sand dunes which were quite stunning. The sands just seemed to go on forever, which of course they didn't, but as far as we could tell it might as well could have. Anyway, we took a short break for lunch where we were served pisco sours and BBQ while meeting other exchange students from Miami, and then we moved on to the beach and raced through the sand while my horse tried to kill me by having no desire to slow down ever.

Then, the next weekend, after another full week of classes and going out every night, we took our second class trip, this time to Isla Negra, the most famous home of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, a nobel prize winner who is said to be one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. The house is spectacular. Sitting right on the ocean, it is a colorful and comfortable home that is filled with an eclectic collection of souvenirs that Neruda collected throughout his life. Additionally, the house is designed to be somewhat like a boat, reflecting Neruda's love of the sea, and the hallways are narrow with barreled ceilings. Further, it is here in Isla Negra where Neruda and his last wife Matilda are buried, Neruda on the left side of his wife representing the strong political ideals he held throughout his life.

Yet this was just one of Neruda's three houses. The following Wednesday, and then the following weekend we visited the others. The second house we visited was Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaíso, the Sebastiana. Here Neruda has a house up in the central hills where his bedroom has yet another magnificent view that looks out over the entire city and port. This city, rather than being designed like a boat, was built to feel like the city of Valparaíso. The hallways are again narrow, but this time to feel like the different streets and alleys that wind through the city, and the walls on the different floors are all painted bright colors to match the houses one finds in the streets. This was my favorite house although I liked the eclectic collections better at Isla Negra.

Finally, the third house of Pablo Neruda is the Chascona, basically translating curly messy hair. He named the house for his redheaded wife of whom there are two strange portraits in the house where she has two heads (one painted as a personal gift from Diego Rivera). I found this house to be the least interesting of the three, probably because the structure itself didn't seem to have as much character as the others and that was what I enjoyed most about the other two. Nevertheless, it completes the set and I bought a collection of Neruda's poems there (I bought another at Isla Negra also) which gives me some Spanish reading to practice during my upcoming travels.

The morning after our trip to Isla Negra, which was supposed to be relaxing, turned out to be yet another mini-Chilean adventure. We had spent the afternoon after our visit to Isla Negra visiting vineyards between Santiago and Valparaíso, which was a great experience, and then went out that night and so I was fairly tired and expecting to sleep in. Yet around 10:00 in the morning I was awoken by a marching band right a block outside my apartment window. After convincing myself I was actually awake and that the noise wasn't coming from a rouge television (why would I expect to hear drums and horns at 10:00 in the morning when I was supposed to be sleeping?), I looked outside to see a full blown parade marching through the Errazuriz, a parade celebrating the Festival de San Pedro. I watched from my window and then got dressed in case they came back. They did! Quite soon the entire parade was returning right down the Calle Blanco, that is to say the street where I live. I grabbed my camera and set up shop, waiting as the band of the Chilean Navy, forming the vanguard of the parade, came marching down the street. They were followed by rows of colorful dancers and and the parade culminated at the port where there was live music and the different groups of dancers took turns displaying their traditional steps. I loved it. Especially the dancers from the Northern deserts in Chile who without doubt had the best costumes, dancing, and music.

Next, following another week of classes, was a trip with our coordinator and all the gringos in our group to Cascada de las Animas in Cajon del Maipo, a privately run reserve about an hour from Santiago. We showed up in the morning, found our cabins, and went for a short scenic hike to visit some waterfalls. Later we took a zipline across the river and spent most of the night drinking pisco. Lot's of fun although I really would have liked more outdoor excursion. The hike was not not challenging in the least and after skydiving a zipline across a river doesn't give me quite the adrenaline rush some of the less adventurous others received. The bar was full and everybody was dancing so things turned out well anyway.

In the morning, after forcing ourselves out of bed for breakfast at eight, we moved on to Santiago where we visited the Palacio de la Moneda, the Catedral de Santiago, and the Mercado Central where we ate lunch. This was also the day we visited the Chascona. It was a fun trip although we were all quite tired. Also, Quinn and I had already visited Santiago the Monday before and visited many of the same places so it was a bit repetitive, yet nevertheless enjoyable. The food in the Mercardo Central was especially quite good (I ate eel as Chile is best known for its seafood). To add a little more to this though, when Quinn and I came to visit we also went to the Cerro (Hill) San Lucia, a nice little climb right in the middle of the city from where you can see a good bit of the city. To this point that is my favorite part of Santiago although I'm going again tomorrow to visit the other Cerro, San Cristobal, as well as the museums which were close on Mondays, the day Quinn and I took our first trip.

And finally, the last trip I took was to La Serena over the long weekend we had before our last week of school. While the city itself was nice, attractively located along the beach and dotted with unvisited but pretty churches, the highlight of this trip was the visit to the Valle de Elqui, a famous, some say mystical, valley where pisco grapes are grown and where the sky is famously clear. We used a tour guide who was very informative in explaining all the places we were moving through, and we had the opportunity to explore some of the small pueblos located in the valley as well as take a tour to a pisco plant.

Anyway that brings us to this week. No more classes and all three of my favorite gringo friends are probably boarding their planes as I write. We had a crazy going away party last night at a bar where our friend Felipe works, and I spent most of the day sleeping and writing this blog.

So I reflect. Six weeks in Valparaíso. Although I will definitely admit things started out a little rough, not too rough, just sick. I have grown to love Valparaíso and I already miss it although I've not even left yet. For everyone back home where time is moving at a normal pace, possibly even slowly, I am experiencing the complete opposite here. This has been the fastest six weeks of my life, I hardly feel like I've been here and my time is already over. I am so happy to be traveling more just because I feel like I've hardly even started. My Spanish is finally improved to the point where it feels fairly natural to speak and I can follow along with most conversations, but I have so much more to learn and I am extremely excited about the improvements I'll be making and the people I will meet in my next six weeks of traveling. And to conclude, I feel compelled to acknowledge how fortunate I am to be traveling. Having the opportunity to see how other cultures have structured their lives and why is a great experience. Thanks mom and dad for lending me the money to get my independent traveling done and thanks to everyone that gave me graduation money which is what paid for the first half of my trip. Six more weeks! Now that I'll be seeing more new places on a regular basis I hope to have lots more blog entries coming soon, and pictures if possible! take care all

brian

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Photos

La Sebastiana
Pablo's home in Valparaíso

La Chascona
Pablo's home in Santiago

Flags of the World
(made out of human hair!)